Chinese firm to construct Uzbek PVC complex for Navoiyazot

BEIJING — The China National Chemical Engineering Group Corp. (CNCEC) has won the contract to construct a new 350 million euro ($476 million) PVC complex at the site of the Uzbekistan chemical company Navoiyazot.Beijing-based CNCEC is reported to be due to sign the deal with Navoiyazot, part of the Uzbek state-owned industrial conglomerate Uzkimyosanoat, in October or November this year.Navoiyazot, one of the Central Asian country's biggest chemical enterprises, has planned to establish a PVC operation at its site in Navoi City, 248 miles from the Uzbek capital Tashkent, since 2010. But the project has been delayed several times, in part because it was awaiting a formal government green light.The production complex was initially due to be completed by 2012 with a PVC capacity of 110 million pounds per year and caustic soda capacity of 71 million pounds per year. But now, according to regional reports, it has been doubled in size to reach 220 million pounds per year of PVC output and caustic soda production of 141 million pounds per year, and will produce up to 661 million pounds per year of methanol.Financing of the project will include a loan from Uzbekistan's Fund for Reconstruction and Development, and from international financial institutions including Exim Bank of China as well as Navoiyazot's own resources. Completion of the complex is now being scheduled for 2016, the reports state.The fertilizers and chemical company also produces methylacrylate and polymethylacrylate, and operates two packaging converting lines producing up to 20 million polypropylene sacks a year for its own use.